From Publishers Weekly
French philosopher-mystic Simone Weil (1909-1943) was born to an Alsatian father and a Russian mother, both Jewish. After an intense conversion experience in 1938, she rejected her Jewishness and embraced her own version of Roman Catholicism, though she never joined the Church. To Nevin ( Irving Babbitt ), emulating Weil as a saint or a religious guide would be a "disastrous" mistake. He interprets her aid to Spanish anarchists, to the unemployed and the oppressed as expressions of her role as a tzeddik , the traditional Jewish "just person." In Weil's passionate wrestling with God and her quest for a special convenant with Him, she also manifests her Jewishness, argues Nevin. This thoughtful, scholarly study draws on Weil's unpublished archival writings, some translated here for the first time. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Nevin (classical languages, John Carroll Univ.) gives us a rich, thorough, and welcome study of the intellectual, cultural, and religious histories that informed Weil's writing and thought. While Weil (1909-43) has been the subject of several recent biographies (and some hagiographical studies), this critique attends to details often omitted or glossed over: the teachings of Alain, her early teacher and lifelong intellectual influence; her poetry and its aesthetic roots; and her battles with Judaism in a world undergoing the crucible of Nazism. With its extensive bibliographies of primary and secondary sources, this volume belongs in both academic and public libraries as it enhances Weil's own writings and other works about her.- Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley P.L., Cal.Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Book Description
Nevin's massive research draws on the full range of essays, notebooks, and fragments from the Simone Weil archives in Paris, many of which have never been translated or published.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Nevin's massive research draws on the full range of essays, notebooks, and fragments from the Simone Weil archives in Paris, many of which have never been translated or published.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

French philosopher-mystic Simone Weil (1909-1943) was born to an Alsatian father and a Russian mother, both Jewish. After an intense conversion experience in 1938, she rejected her Jewishness and embraced her own version of Roman Catholicism, though she never joined the Church. To Nevin ( Irving Babbitt ), emulating Weil as a saint or a religious guide would be a ``disastrous'' mistake. He interprets her aid to Spanish anarchists, to the unemployed and the oppressed as expressions of her role as a tzeddik , the traditional Jewish ``just person.'' In Weil's passionate wrestling with God and her quest for a special convenant with Him, she also manifests her Jewishness, argues Nevin. This thoughtful, scholarly study draws on Weil's unpublished archival writings, some translated here for the first time. (Dec.)

Library Journal

Nevin (classical languages, John Carroll Univ.) gives us a rich, thorough, and welcome study of the intellectual, cultural, and religious histories that informed Weil's writing and thought. While Weil (1909-43) has been the subject of several recent biographies (and some hagiographical studies), this critique attends to details often omitted or glossed over: the teachings of Alain, her early teacher and lifelong intellectual influence; her poetry and its aesthetic roots; and her battles with Judaism in a world undergoing the crucible of Nazism. With its extensive bibliographies of primary and secondary sources, this volume belongs in both academic and public libraries as it enhances Weil's own writings and other works about her.-- Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley P.L., Cal.

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